TOKYO – A group of Asian women forced to work as sex slaves for Japan’s soldiers during World War II urged the country’s lawmakers Tuesday to pass a resolution demanding an official apology.

“Survivors are quickly ageing, still suffering from pain and complications from damage in the days of sexual slavery,” said a statement from a committee representing the so-called “comfort women” and their families.

LIMA (Reuters) â€” Chinese President Hu Jintao spelled out Friday a potentially ambitious role for his country in staving off a deep global recession as he and US President George W. Bush prepared for a weekend summit of leaders from Asia and the Americas.

Hu and Bush, whose presidency is in its last weeks, discussed trade and other issues Friday night in Peruâ€™s capital, before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum of 21 leaders representing more than half of global output.

SYDNEY, Australia — A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 213 passengers aborted a flight shortly before takeoff from Sydney Saturday when an engineer spotted that one of its wings was damaged, the airline said.

The New Zealand-bound Boeing 747-300 was taxiing towards the runway when damage to a right wing flap was noticed by an engineer on the ground and the pilot was alerted, Qantas said.

MIAMI â€“ D’Zhana Simmons says she felt like a “fake person” for 118 days when she had no heart beating in her chest. “But I know that I really was here,” the 14-year-old said, “and I did live without a heart.”

As she was being released Wednesday from a Miami hospital, the shy teen seemed in awe of what she’s endured. Since July, she’s had two heart transplants and survived with artificial heart pumps â€” but no heart â€” for four months between the transplants.

JAKARTA — A major 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island early Monday, destroying houses and triggering a tsunami warning but there were no reports of fatalities, officials said.

The US Geological Survey (USGS), which initially said the quake had a magnitude of 7.8 before downgrading it to 7.5, said it struck 136 kilometers (84 miles) off the coastal town Gorontalo at a depth of 21 kilometers.